Besides, the economic growth in the January-March quarter last fiscal was at nine-year low of 5.3 per cent.
The government is trying to promote infrastructure development through PPP projects and has suggested the state should pick projects under this mode in a big way.
Manmohan Singh will call a Cabinet meeting on Friday to take final call on extension of the Unique Identification Authority of India project, under which national identity cards are issued to entire population.
Home Minister P Chidambaram and Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia rejected reports that they were locked in a turf war over the ambitious UIDAI project to give every Indian resident a unique ID number Aadhar.
The country's economic growth rate slipped to 5.3 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2011-12, lowest in nearly 9 years due to poor performance of the manufacturing and farm sectors.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said on Thursday the government will focus on modernising the agricultural marketing system and brining in private players to this sector in the 12th Five Year Plan beginning 2012.
The CEOs, sources said, also discussed the steps to raise domestic production of coal.
Inter-ministerial group to meet on Thursday to finalise model concession pact.
Economists say even 8.5 per cent growth is an optimistic target, which could not be met, unless the government pushes for economic reforms.
Hectic preparations are on at the newly-formed Niti Aayog to welcome the first Vice-Chairman Arvind Panagariya and other members whose appointments were approved by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday.
There were reports that some Commission officials were against the Rajan panel's suggestion to replace Gadgil- Mukherjee formula with Rajan Committee's Multi Dimensial Index for allocation funds to states.
Indian-American economist Arvind Panagariya has said that he is "honoured" to be appointed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi as the first Vice Chairman of the newly created NITI Aayog, which replaces the 65-year-old Planning Commission.
"I believe the biggest issues in front of us are malnutrition and toilets, these are the two faces of one coin... I have MNREGA, PMGSY, drinking water etc under me but I spend maximum time on toilet only," said Ramesh, who holds the portfolios of Rural Development and Drinking Water and Sanitation, in what apparently was his take on the toilet controversy for which the plan panel has drawn flak.
Facing flak over expenditure of Rs 35 lakh on toilets, the Planning Commission on Wednesday termed it as routine maintenance and upgradation work and said it was "unfortunate" to call it a wasteful expenditure.
Key Planning Commission official says push from small-scale industries will help reach the figure, but others disagree.
Enthused by the estimated 8.1 per cent growth in 2003-04, Planning Commission on Friday said the targeted 8 per cent annual growth during the Tenth Plan period was now within the realms of possibility.
State-run public sector undertakings live in a mysterious world, without scrutiny from analysts or the public. Here's an overview of Maharashtra's PSUs.
India's fiscal deficit is expected to be 5.6 per cent of gross domestic product this fiscal as against the budget estimates of 4.6 per cent of GDP.
The duo face a tough challenge to their ministerial aspirations.
Last year, the Planning Commission got the approval for the 9 per cent annual average economic growth target under the Approach document for the 12th Plan from the country's apex decision making body, the National Development Council, headed by the Prime Minister with all the chief ministers and Cabinet ministers on board.
The two-day conference, which saw participation of ministers and senior officials from all the states, was marked by brainstorming in the run up to the expected enactment of the government's ambitious Food Security Bill.
The Planning Commission on Friday said the economy is expected to grow between 6-6.5% in the current fiscal
Reliance Industries is facing penalty for falling gas output from its KG-D6 fields.
Developers say an increase in the FSI was long due, given the scarcity of land, but stress the need for stronger infrastructure to support such high-rise buildings.
Document to talk about social unrest, energy shortages, global factors.
Shortly before the commencement of the Sixth G20 Summit in Cannes, France, leaders of the emerging, but powerful, economies -- Brazil, Russia, India and China -- met with the intention of designing a joint strategy on how to tackle the Eurozone debt tsunami that could overrun the developing nations causing havoc.
The PPP model for CIL was first mooted by the Planning Commission.
The authority is set to cross the target by the end of this month, with a million enrolments every day. It has already allotted 116.3 million Aadhar numbers.
The government hopes of registering GDP growth rate ranging between 6.1-6.7 per cent in 2013-14.
The Planning Commission may find those earning more than Rs 32 a day ineligible to qualify as poor but for Mumbai's tiny but affluent Parsi community a "poor Parsi" is one who makes up to Rs 90,000 per month.
Others may be gung-ho about food inflation falling into the negative territory, but not former chief statistician Pronab Sen.
Soon after the Rajya Sabha met for the day, members from Bharatiya Janata Party, Janata Dal-United, Bahujan Samaj Party, All India Anna Dravida Munnettra Kazhagam and the Left parties were on their feet seeking a discussion on the issue.
The Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion and Planning Commission member Arun Maira are sticking to their guns on foreign direct investment in the pharmaceutical sector.
Addressing a high level debate on 'State of the World Economy and Finance in 2012' at the United Nations General Assembly in United Nations on Thursday, Ahluwalia said the Indian economy grew at an average rate of 9 per cent in the five years prior to the financial crisis of 2008.
Amid the controversy raging over the definition of poverty, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia and Union Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh on Monday claimed that they have resolved the issue.
You cannot have a corporate tax and then say spend another two per cent.
In the mid-1980s, India and the US struggled to arrive at sufficient confidence for Washington to even sell a supercomputer to India for monsoon prospecting. Now, the most sensitive military technologies, data, and intelligence resources are being shared. This would not have happened without that one, big deal that changed the fundamentals of India-US relations, notes Shekhar Gupta.